Building 1.5 million homes in England and fast-tracking planning decisions on at least 150 major economic infrastructure projects are milestones in the government’s “plan for change.” Against that backdrop, the government has announced that a new Nature Restoration Fund will be set up to help developers meet their environmental obligations. The government’s ‘common sense changes’ aim to unblock housing and infrastructure projects while supporting nature recovery.

These proposals sit alongside those set out in the government’s planning reform working paper: Development and Nature Recovery. The working paper proposes addressing environmental impacts strategically and envisages a strategic assessment and delivery plan for an area. Public bodies would then be responsible for delivering the strategic actions identified in the delivery plan funded by financial payments made by developers. The working paper suggests that for developers, they could pay into the fund allowing them to proceed immediately. Only environmental harms not dealt with by the delivery plan would need to be mitigated on site.